“I do not.”
Emma let out her breath gently. “Hugh can be…hard. Though I think his history has earned him that. He did not have a happy relationship with his father, and when his parents died, he was forced into his title at a very young age, as well as guardianship of his much younger sister. A great deal of weight settled on those shoulders.”
Amelia shifted. She did not know those things about the man. Heavens, a week ago she had never spent time with any dukes or duchesses. She knew her place in the world. It was on the periphery of those at the very top levels of theton.
And now Emma said a handful of words, and suddenly some of Amelia’s anger toward Brighthollow faded. “How old was he?”
Emma tilted her head. “Seventeen, I think? Eighteen? Just barely old enough to stake his claim at all. He leaned heavily on his friends, on their group.” She smiled. “Their brotherhood has seen all of them through difficult times.”
Amelia stared at her clenched hands. She did feel a little for Brighthollow now, but did that really change what he’d said about Aaron? Those vague accusations that the man she planned to marry was unworthy?
“Well, perhaps he has been elevated for so long that he does not remember humility,” she muttered. “For he judges those beneath him quite harshly.”
Emma looked truly surprised. “Really? I must say that shocks me. Rank has never seemed to matter as much to him as a goodness of character.”
Amelia pushed to her feet. She liked Emma. Although they had only talked for a few moments in the ballroom, the duchess was kind, welcoming, intelligent. She was everything Amelia looked for in a friend.
But perhaps her sweetness made her blind to character flaws. Amelia had to believe that was it, because the alternative was that Brighthollow was talking to her about Aaron because he truly believed her fiancé to be untrue.
And that was not something Amelia wanted to face. Couldn’t.
“I’m sure I was just overly warm,” she lied. “And reacted badly to something that was not cruelly meant.”
“Yes,” Emma said, and got up to pour her a glass of water. “These events can be so very overwhelming! Hugh’s gruffness can be easily mistaken by those who don’t know him.”
“At any rate, it isn’t as though I really have to talk to the man again,” Amelia reasoned, more to herself than to Emma. “We’re only in the same circles by accident tonight. We do not click and we don’t have to.”
Emma shrugged. “You are correct. Though I hope we’ll see you in our circles more often. All the duchesses like you a great deal.”
Amelia smiled as the topic shifted to more benign ones. What Emma didn’t know was that soon Amelia’s engagement would be announced. And Aaron was not the kind of gentleman who would open doors to her to the Society Emma regularly kept.
So all this consternation about the handsome, horrible Duke of Brighthollow didn’t matter one whit.
Hugh stood in the corner of Simon and Meg’s ballroom, watching as the last of the guests staggered their way to the door. All that was left now were his friends. Members of their club. Only it had ceased to be a club and become a family.
And his family was giving him odd looks at present. As Simon and Meg returned from saying farewell to the last of their guests, it was Emma, James’s wife, who approached him. Hugh was a little surprised by that. She was so soft and quiet, as bookish as she was beautiful. Normally she didn’t start anything. In fact, she was the calming influence that often stopped any loud argument.
But at that moment she had an expression of concern on her face. One that was matched as the rest of their friends joined her.
“I spoke to Amelia Quinton tonight,” Emma said softly.
He arched a brow. “I saw her with the duchesses. It seemed you all got along very well.”
Meg glanced at the other ladies and nodded. “We all like her very much.”
“Good,” he said with relief. “That will make it easier.”
When he said that, Lucas straightened, and Hugh saw Diana’s fingers tighten on her husband’s forearm. They were the only two who knew the truth.
“What are you saying?” Lucas asked, his voice tense. “What are you doing?”
“I’m offering for her tomorrow,” he admitted, for there was no reason for him to keep that a secret. They’d all know soon enough.
That simple sentence set off a cacophony of reaction. Every face around him looked utterly shocked, some horrified, everyone confused. Except for Lucas and Diana. They just stared at him. Knowing. Pitying.
He hated it all to the pit of his soul.
“Why?” Graham finally asked, pushing his way to the front. “It’s not that she isn’t lovely. The duchesses all like her, which is a hearty recommendation, indeed. But you’ve barely spoken of the girl—I’ve never seen you interact with her at all until tonight.”
